Our Projects Chair is Nancy McLaughlin. Please contact Nancy for information on any of our branch projects, to volunteer, or to suggest new projects for the branch..
AAUW Ashland Branch Projects
AAUW Projects give life to our mission in the community. Most members work on one or more Projects each year, often a short-term, one-shot Project and another that requires a longer commitment. Working on a longer-term Project is a good way to form bonds within the AAUW membership.
AAUW Scholarships to SOU & RCC Contact: Helen Rosen
AAUW provides significant scholarship help to women students each year. Members organize an annual Branch appeal and an annual community “fun”draiser to solicit donations for the RCC and SOU endowment funds, read and evaluate applications, interview finalists, and select scholarship winners. Members of the committee spend one hour on the appeal mailing and one or more mornings during the third week in March on evaluating applications and interviewing finalists. The scholarship awards are presented to SOU & RCC students at the May Honors Brunch, to be held in May 2010. Last year, our Ashland Branch awarded 7 scholarships: four $1,000 scholarships to women students at Rogue Community College, two $1,000 scholarships to undergraduate women students at Southern Oregon University, and two $1,500 scholarships to graduate women students at SOU.
Academic ChallengesContact: Diana Quirk or Stef Seffinger
State of Jefferson Scavenger Hunt – This is an exciting and creative search by students for obscure items of information in areas such as current events, literature, science, art and music. AAUW volunteers register participants and serve as scorekeepers. Event is subject to availability of School District funding.
Southern Oregon Brain Bowl – Teams of students compete to be the first to buzz in with the correct answer to questions in many academic areas. AAUW members register participants and serve as timers and scorekeepers. Event is subject to availability of School District funding.
AWSEM (Advocates for Women in Science,Engineering & Math )Contact:Diana Quirk or Stef Seffinger
This is an annual conference put on by SOU’s Pre-College Youth Programs with the assistance of AAUW volunteers who compile materials and register participants. The purpose of the conference is to increase gender equity for women by encouraging middle school girls to continue taking science courses and to consider future careers in science.
Educational Projects Contact: Annette Lewis
Abuse Pamphlets – AAUW Ashland provides pamphlets that help young women at Ashland High School and SOU identify abusive relationships and create realistic strategies to deal with them. Pamphlets are distributed to the health centers at both AHS and SOU, as well as AHS health classes and to the SOU Women’s Study Group.
Reading Student Writing – AAUW members help Ashland High School English and Social Studies teachers coping with huge class loads, by making themselves available to read, edit and encourage student writing, particularly research papers. Member volunteers may be asked to read a set of 20 to 25 papers, and approximately 20 to 30 volunteers are needed each year. The teachers provide a rubric or set of marks and explain what they want you to do. The results are terrific – more feedback for the students, more time for the teachers, and a feeling of great fulfillment for members. Volunteers are always needed and valued.
Evaluating Senior Projects – AAUW members view and critique Ashland High School senior projects. In late January and mid-May, members volunteer for a Friday afternoon and are assigned a classroom with about four students doing their individual presentations. Volunteers ask questions and complete an evaluation form. AHS could use over 100 volunteers each year to listen as students present a topic of interest to them, but one they have not deeply explored.
ASPIREContact: Bill Baine or Kim Neto, AHS ASPIRE Coordinator at 482-8771 or kim.neto@ashland.k12.or.us
This project makes one-on-one mentors available to help high school students plan for their post-high school years. Volunteers meet with an assigned junior or senior student regularly at least once a month, but at times more frequently, according to a schedule convenient for both. The busiest time for the program is from September through February. Training is provided by the ASPIRE coordinator at Ashland High School, and guidelines are provided about how to help students stay on track, make realistic choices and meet deadlines. This is an extremely rewarding and meaningful contribution, and we are always looking for additional volunteers.
Soroptomist Strong Girls/Strong WomenContact: Sara Brown
During 2008-2009 AAUW Ashland took part in the Soroptimist Strong Girls Strong Women program, providing 12 of the 35 Lunch Buddies for second and third grade girls at Helman Elementary School. Last year, volunteers met for lunch with “their girl” in a classroom at Helman on either the first or second Thursday of each month during the school year. Make-up lunches occurred on
the third Thursday if a Buddy was unable to make the regular day. Additional volunteers will be needed during the 2010-11 school year in order to sustain and expand the program. “Lunch Buddies” is part of “Soroptimist Strong Girls Strong Women,” a comprehensive program for grades K-5 girls.
Garden Tour Contact: Carryl Breon or Norma D’Isidoro
The Garden Tour, held on the first Sunday of June (this year – June 7) is our major fun-raising and fund-raising event, and many members work on it in various capacities – planning, publicity, ticket sales, logistics, garden coordination, cookie-baking, sign-making, creating printed materials, ad sales, etc. There are two meetings a year for steering committee members, and volunteers can work throughout the year or just the day of the event, depending on their assignments. (Approximately 80-90 AAUW members volunteer in various roles.) Every member is asked to purchase two tickets. Proceeds from the event cover operating expenses for the Branch and special projects related to our mission, including the costs of putting on our Community Forums.
Honors Brunch Contact: Ann Atnip or Pam Larsen
The AAUW Ashland Branch celebrates scholarship winners and outstanding women graduates in each SOU discipline. The volunteer committee meets 4 times to plan and coordinate the event. Members work with SOU department chairs, mail invitations, work with honorees regarding their attendance and responsibility, create the program, take reservations, make certificates, greet guests and take photos. All told, about 15+ volunteers participate. 2010’s Honors Brunch will be held in May in the Rogue River Room in SOU Stevenson Union. Each honoree is selected by the Chair of her department as the Outstanding Graduating Woman in the Department. They, along with our SOU & RCC Scholarship awardees, relate their personal achievement stories at one of the true highlights of the year.
Middle School Book Fair Contact: Bessie Azari
This project enables the AAUW Ashland Branch to support Ashland Middle School by participating in their Book Fair in early December. Over 30 volunteers cover one-hour shifts, monitoring student selections and selling books before school or at the noon hour. We recently raised more than $2300 – an increase of over $500 from last year, and half of the profits go to Ashland Middle School. The additional funds enable the Library to purchase more books beyond their original budget. There are no meetings involved, and volunteer sign-ups are in the Fall.
WIN (Women in Need) Contact: Susan Elsom
AAUW helps women and girls who have been abused, are homeless or are otherwise in need, by providing time, skills and tangible gifts, including personal care products, linens, kitchen items and furniture. There are two meetings a year: one in the Fall and one in the Spring to collect 40-50 “start-up” buckets of cleaning supplies, linens and personal items for women who have left everything behind to flee to Dunn House or another shelter in the face of domestic violence. The meetings/parties are to fill the baskets with collected items and will be held from 4-5:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday on November 17, 2009, and April 20, 2010. All members are encouraged to bring to all member meetings and community forums cleaning supplies (such as dish, laundry and bath soap; paper towels; sponges; cleanser; rubber gloves; scrub brushes; window cleaners; and trash bags, as well as other optional household items such as new towels, shampoo, hand cream, band-aids and hangers). Members should call the Helpline (779-HELP) to donate furniture and leave a message for Dunn House staff for a volunteer to pick up furniture. Furniture may also be donated to OnTrack wshich has transitional living apartments for women in need and has a truck to pick up items. Call Pam Marsh at 772-1777.
GECOS is an after-school girls’ engineering program at ScienceWorks designed to increase girls’ interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) by providing them with hands-on opportunities to solve challenges through the engineering design process. The program targets girls ages 8 – 12 with a goal of expanding to multiple sites. AAUW is a sponsor of GECOS and members can be involved as speakers (who have worked in STEM fields), teacher assistants, refreshment providers, and helpers. Each session is 8 weeks, one afternoon per week for 1 ½ hours.
GECOS (Girls Engineering Project of ScienceWorksContact: Sharon Javna
The EF provides fellowships, grants, and awards to women in graduate studies.